Upholstered articles, such as vehicle seats for motor vehicles, may include a structural frame, padding, and a cover. During the life of a motor vehicle, for example, various forces may be exerted on the vehicle seat. A passenger or driver may exert forces on a vehicle seat while sitting in the seat, getting in and out of a seat, or when the vehicle performs maneuvers.
In the early stages vehicle development, a material may be selected for a seat cover before a final seat design is determined. The material may be preliminarily tested and appear to be satisfactory for a seat cover. For example, a material may pass other material property standards but then later fail a dynamic wrinkling evaluation. Changes to a material selection in the final stages of vehicle development may cause significant production delays, re-design of the seats, additional costs or other inefficiencies in the manufacturing process. Because each passenger or driver may have a different size, weight, weight distribution, and shape, it may be difficult to predict the variety of forces that may be exerted on the vehicle seat.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative material design methods.